Editor’s note: Olivia Kozlevcar, The Eagle’s life managing editor, is a member of Dime a Dozen and was not part of the writing, editing or reporting of this story.
Closing out American University’s first full year back on campus since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, AU’s a cappella groups pulled out all the stops for outstanding final concerts.
“We kind of had that energy of ‘Oh, my heart has just been ripped apart,’” said Helena Chaves, the current manager of Pitches Be Trippin’ and a junior in College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Public Affairs, while discussing this year’s theme for Pitches’ final concert, “Pitches Broken Hearts,” on April 16. “So we kind of put that into our theme of ‘let’s make this a moment for us to look back on our own love lives and everyone else’s at AU and realize where we are now and how we found love within ourselves.’”
Community and growth played a large role in this year’s final concerts for AU a cappella. With each group taking on a different theme for their performance and songs, each concert was unique in its own right and was amplified by the energy of the crowds.
While Pitches Be Trippin’s theme centered around love and heartbreak, On A Sensual Note (OASN) opted for a more AU-centric theme with their choice of “The Quad in Kay Spiritual Life Center” for their April 24 performance.
“Every single semester we have a conversation about what our theme is gonna be,” said Daniel Giles, the president of OASN and a senior in CAS, during the 2022 spring semester. “We always come up with something kind of outrageous and kind of out there… and then we put on a show at the end of the day.”
Dime a Dozen brought their theme, “Dime a Buzzin’” to life in their final performance. With a stage decked out in floral detailing with bumblebee and butterfly decorations hung around the auditorium, the performers also donned colorful outfits for the Earth Day performance.
“This was probably one of our favorite shows we’ve done, at least in the time that I’ve been here because we had such an amazing time putting it together with our decorations, set up and intermission in addition to all of the music arrangements,” said Kruttika Gopal, a CAS senior and president of Dime a Dozen. “We had our show on Earth Day which was behind the inspiration for our nature and earth theme for ‘Dime a Buzzin.’’”
Dime a Dozen’s show featured nine performances, seven of which were fully arranged by members of the group. Each song was full of energy and dancing, with the setlist ranging in genres from R&B hit “Skate” by Silk Sonic, to pop single “good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo.
Treble in Paradise’s final concert entitled “Rose, Bud,Treble'' displayed the bond within the group as well as what each member can bring to the stage. Treble explained that their theme was meant to reflect a bonding exercise they do at each practice and overall display how much the group means to its members. Kay Spiritual Life Center was adorned with pink roses to reflect the theme of the concert as well.
For the songs, Treble’s setlist was alive with fast-paced songs such as a mash-up from Ariana Grande to Taylor Swift. Highlights include junior Saxon Krupp’s powerful performance of Lennon Stella’s “Kissing Other People” and freshman Mira Mundt’s soulful cover of Ariana Grande’s “Greedy.” The most touching part of the performance, however, was the senior recognition at the end of the show. Treble honored seniors Sonali Doshi and Lauren Sasson with the traditional Scottish song, “The Parting Glass.”
Current president and rising junior Amanda Muñiz reflected on the concert, saying, “It was very emotional. We basically reflect on how they impact us individually and how they impact the group. We wanted to send them off so before they know how special they are to us and how they’ve impacted us.”
Lastly, TenLi Tunes performed their end-of-year show on April 18 with the theme of “TenLi Masquerade” as a way to celebrate after a long year of hard work.
“We’ve been preparing pretty much the whole year, and a lot of hard work has gone into this show being the culmination of everything we’ve done and how much we’ve grown as a group,” said CAS and SPA sophomore president Ruby Coleman. “This show was really special to us because it allowed us to release all the stress from the year and just have fun.”
Being one of the newer a cappella groups at AU, TenLi Tunes used this year to grow and perform as a group through being able to hold in-person events again. “Any opportunity to perform we got we took which helped us work on establishing ourselves as a group, especially as the youngest group on campus,” Coleman said.
Although AU a cappella has concluded for this academic year, that doesn’t mean the groups aren’t preparing for the fall, and there are things that each a cappella ensemble has taken with them from the last two semesters to carry to the next year.
When discussing what he wants OASN to continue as they go into a new school year, Giles said, “If I had to pick I would just say how close and really how caring we all are of each other… At the end of the day, my best friends at AU are in OASN. My biggest and best support group is OASN.”
“That’s something that I think really is a hallmark and is a very unique thing for this campus and a very unique thing in life and I hope that that can continue.”
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